No one was a hundred percent on what had happened exactly. Sure we knew he had been stabbed, but why and by who, that was the part that wasn’t clear. I mean, I had a pretty good guess, but no one had actually seen David stab Vater Henry, despite that we all knew he had the motive. I had told the Vater everything David had done to Ash, and in front of two elders. Elder Thompson probably already knew, but Elder Berry didn’t, and that isn’t something he would be okay with. Especially if what he said about him being an ally was true, and I was inclined to believe he was, is. Regardless, knowing he had the motive, and seeing him do it are two different things.
After the meeting, Luke had stationed Tommy in an ally with a good viewpoint of the horses and wagon that would take the Vater, David, and everyone else back to the compound. He’d said everything seemed normal at first. He had watched them load into the wagon, and after only a few minutes they turned and headed in the direction of their home. He mentioned they seemed to be going unusually slow, but just as the last of their party was nearly out of his line of sight, he’d seen something fall over the edge of the wagon. He could just make out a lump lying on the ground, but had no idea what it was. Then once the group was completely out of sight, he had grabbed a couple men and they’d made their way out to the lump, finding Vater Henry’s bloody body.
That’s all we know at this point. We can guess all we want, but unless the Vater wakes up, we won’t know for sure. And we all know that’s unlikely.
If David did stab the Vater and leave him for dead, what’s his end game? I may have a pretty good guess as to why he did it, but I’m not sure what he had hoped to achieve. They had at least twenty-five men with them. That’s a lot of witnesses. Can David really trust every single one of them? Can he trust that they won’t go back and tell everyone inside the compound walls? That seems highly unlikely. So will he kill all the witnesses too? I doubt he could get away with killing the Vater and every witness.
And then what? He goes back to the compound and tells the council what exactly? The Vater was kidnapped, disappeared? I just can’t figure it out.
***
DAVID
When we arrived back at the compound two days ago, I had immediately called an emergency council meeting. It had only taken an hour to gather everyone in the meeting room before I filled them in on everything that had happened. Sure a lot of the details I’d given them hadn’t been true, but I told them what they needed to know.
The first thing I had led with was that the Vater was dead. The room had immediately filled with shocked voices, some louder than others, with at least half the elders standing while demanding to know what happened. I’d told them after the meeting, the gangs attacked us trying to leave town, and the Vater had been stabbed. No sense in lying about how he died, just in case someone recovers his body.
Everyone in the room was irate at the idea the Vater had been killed by the gangs, and that’s when I’d filled in all the details about the meeting. That the gangs had demanded we dismantle the church, step down, and give them control of the compound. And that if we refused, they would not stop attacking us until the whole place was crumbled to the ground; every single one of us dead. I’d tried to make the Vater out to be a hero, telling them he had stood up, told the leaders to get bent, and stormed out. Of course not in those words.
Then once they were each riled up enough, I went in for the kill and Elder Thompson backed my story. Of course, not everyone was immediately on board with me being the new Vater. Nearly half of them outright rebuked it, but after Elder Thompson and Elder McGee supported my promotion, several of them began to settle down. I’d noticed Elder Thompson giving several of the men in his pocket knowing looks, and that seemed to get them on board as well.
We’d also discussed what would need to be done about Mutter Vera. She had yet to be told about her husband’s death, and when a new Vater was voted in, she would no longer be the Mutter. A fact that she would certainly fight.
In the end the decision was made to take a couple days, let everything settle down, and then we would come back to vote on a new Vater. In regards to the Mutter, well we were prepared to take harsh action against her. And that’s exactly what happened.
Two hours later the Mutter was brought into my office, and myself and Elder Thompson informed her of her husband’s death, as well as the cause. She didn’t doubt for a second that the gangs had killed him. Not to mention that she didn’t even shed a tear, at least not in front of us. Her first words were that she would remain Mutter, and control the church at least during the interim period. Elder Thompson and I both knew she had no intentions of it just being an interim period. So we had let her return to her room, and after we were sure everyone was asleep, two of my men had slipped into her room, drugged her, and then placed her in a cell in the bunker.
Two days later that’s still where she is, and the old bitch hasn’t
